"
Lady Parham flushed angrily. The suggested comparison between herself,
and that incessant rattle and blare of social event through which she
dragged her husband--conducting thereby a vulgar campaign of her own, as
arduous as his and far more ambitious--and the ways and character of
gentle Mrs. Loraine, absorbed in the man she adored, scatter-brained and
absent-minded towards the rest of the world, but for him all eyes and
ears, an angel of shelter and protection--this did not now reach the
Prime Minister's wife for the first time. But she had no opportunity to
launch a retort, even supposing she had one ready, for the music ceased,
and the tide of dancers surged towards the doors. It brought Kitty
abruptly face to face with Lady Parham.
"Oh! how d'you do?" said Kitty, in a tone that was already an offence,
and she held out a small hand with an indescribably regal air.
Lady Parham just touched it, glanced at the owner from top to toe, and
walked away. Kitty slipped in beside Ashe for a moment, with her back to
the wall, laughing and breathless.
"I say, Kitty," said Ashe, bending over her and speaking in her small
ear, "I thought Lady Parham was eternally obliged to us.
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